Venice left high and dry after low tides

No gondola rides were on offer in Venice on Tuesday as the canal city known for its struggle with ever-rising water levels was instead left high and dry by an exceptionally low tide.

Experts predicted that by Tuesday afternoon water would be 70 centimetres below sea level after a record 80 centimetres below was set on Monday, the ANSA news agency reported.

Some canals were emptied down to their mud bottoms in a phenomenon that is expected to last until the weekend in the Renaissance city that attracted some 20 million visitors last year.

Gondolas were stranded in the mud, while landing platforms that normally float on the water were seen tilted at giddy angles.

Water buses known as vaporetti had to change their routes to avoid running aground, the daily La Stampa reported.

The lowest level reached before Monday's record was minus 77 in 2005. In January last year Venice saw four consecutive days of low tide averaging 70 centimetres below sea level.

The more common scourge of "acqua alta" (high water) reached 109 centimetres above sea level last November, while the record remains the 194 centimetres of November 1966, when much of Italy suffered catastrophic flooding.

Meanwhile experts predict higher water than ever next year, according to a complex mathematical model, ANSA said.

Venice has become increasingly vulnerable over time, suffering more than 50 significant floods between 1993 and 2002 and sinking about 23 centimetres over the course of the 20th century.

The government launched the multi-billion-euro "Moses" plan in 2003 to build 78 mobile dikes together to be situated at either end of Venice's lagoon. The work is scheduled for completion in 2012.

(πηγή: travel.iafrica.com, 20/2/2008)